On the 28th of October 1940 the Italian government sent an ultimatum to the Greek one, requesting free passage of Italian troops through Greek soil and control of numerous strategic locations in the country. Ioannis Metaxas rejected the humiliating ultimatum, something that was in full accord with the will of the people of Greece, and this led to the automatic declaration of war by the Italians. The war was waged on the mountains of Epirus and Albania, enabling the successful rebuttal of the Italian army, but also a spectacular counterattack of the Greeks in Albania.